The manufacturer just made its product look a whole lot larger than it really is.

Something that plays on people's "gotta have it bigger and better!" mentality.

The empty space is called "slackfill" in industry speek.

Agreed, it's just plain silly and Broken!

Posted by: Splatman at March 13, 2006 12:24 AM

Oh great! Thanks for calling attention to this. Now they'll probably use more inactive ingredients to make the pills bigger, thus using more space inside the container. When I choke on my echinacea tablets in the future I'll be thinking of Mark Hurst.

And I'll call you broken if you tell me to split the tablet in half so that it goes down easier.

Posted by: Capt. Wafer at March 13, 2006 12:44 AM

Lame. wastefull and broken, however people respond to this so they are broken also.

IMO, anything containing the notice, "This statement has not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease," is broken.

Hasn't echinacea been shown to be no better than placebo?

Posted by: Another Bob at March 13, 2006 07:44 AM

I have heard that pill companies do this so that they only need to buy a few sizes of pill containers.

Posted by: Snit at March 13, 2006 09:43 AM

Echinacea has been proven to be totally worthless for treating any disease. So throw away the pills and keep the bottle, the only thing of value.

Posted by: tomwylie at March 13, 2006 09:57 AM

what a waste of perfectly good cotton. you could probably use the container as a water bottle or something it's so big

Posted by: nasion at March 13, 2006 10:05 AM

You can see a similar "trick" at any supermarket. At first glance, a larger package might look like a better deal (especially if it looks like a "bulk" package or is called a "value pack" or something). But if you actually look at the net weight or number of pieces in the container, and the prices, it sometimes comes out the same or cheaper to buy two or three of the smaller package.

Posted by: Reed at March 13, 2006 10:52 AM

Agreed this packaging is broken. It's not just this product. The marketing people use lots of tricks to get our money...the color on the box, the placement on the shelves. It's everywhere.

As for herbal remedies, weight loss aids etc. it's a crap shoot. Lots of them are unregulated and have inconsistent quality. The regulated ones aren't much better 'cause the FDA is friends with big business...not the little guy.

I say do what mama told you. Eat your veggies, get exercise & rest and you'll be better off.

Posted by: ~ at March 13, 2006 10:55 AM

This isn't really as wasteful as it looks. Plastic is pretty cheap, and it would be far more expensive to have to retool the production line for a custom-sized bottle for every pill they sell.

However, the customer experience is definitely broken. When you open the bottle and see just a few pills at the bottom of a big bottle, you can't help but feel ripped-off, even when you understand the reasons.

(Oh, and the jury's still out on whether echinacea is actually effective. Researchers that are paid to find that it works, find it works. Researchers that are paid to find it doesn't, find it doesn't.)

Posted by: E.T. at March 13, 2006 11:40 AM

Not broken- from a manufacturing standpoint, it only makes sense to use a few sizes of bottles that are proven large enough to accomodate user requirements and food/drug/ storage. Plus the echinacea is so much better when allowed to breathe- hehe

Posted by: smartypants at March 13, 2006 11:41 AM

Try opening a smaller bottle with arthritis.

Posted by: JAC at March 13, 2006 12:13 PM

Your arthritis can't be too bad JAC. You seem to type just fine.

Yeah this is broken a little, but for me it's filed under "Who cares?" So the bottle is grotesquely bigger than it needs to be. That makes it about 5 inches tall rather than 2 inches tall. If the bottle was made smaller, how would this fix anything?

Manni, it would help fix the amount of waste created (and energy used). Bottles like this are usually made from new plastic. While able to be recycled, that takes energy too, and is pointless if companies don't USE the stuff that's recycled.

Posted by: ambrocked at March 13, 2006 01:25 PM

So is a male peacock also broken? He's quite a bit larger than necessary for bare survival, but his excess packaging also serves a pretty important function: to attract. Same thing with this package. Holding the pills is only part of its function. Attracting a buyer and reserving shelf space are its others. I'd say not broken. The environmental arguments are an entirely different issue.

Mort

Posted by: Mort at March 13, 2006 04:06 PM

Mort: You can refer to a male peacock as a peacock. There are no female peacocks. (But there are peahens, and the little ones are peachicks)

Posted by: Another Bob at March 13, 2006 04:19 PM

1) Bottle too big.

2) I forget who said this but: Alternatitive medicine is quackery since if it actully worked it would be used in conventional medicine.

3) echinacea dosent work, peroid. Actually if you have hay feaver STAY AWAY from echinacea. Why? It will cause your allergies to become worse.

4) Ask your doctor before taking anything new if you have prescription medicine, even something as simple as a vitamin B or echinacea.

Posted by: Mike at March 13, 2006 04:22 PM

YASO YATHA

Posted by: 21641 at March 13, 2006 05:48 PM

As others have noted, echinacea has been proven in double-blind tests to be no more effective than a placebo.

Regarding packaging, I've always hated the Yoplait Yoghurt packaging, which has a significant false bottom on an already tiny package. I won't buy the stuff.

Posted by: Steve at March 13, 2006 07:08 PM

you have all failed to see the obvious. the packaging is not broken, not at all. If it is easier to manufacture (normal size) and consumer equate bigger with better, then there is no way it can be broken from the marketers standpoint. the problem is that if you have a container that big, fill it up! i dont care what size the package is if I get my money's worth. this fails to achieve that. If they choose to make a package that big, they need to fill it with pills, simple as that.

Conclusion: BROKEN

Posted by: narco at March 13, 2006 07:56 PM

you have all failed to see the obvious. the packaging is not broken, not at all. If it is easier to manufacture (normal size) and consumer equate bigger with better, then there is no way it can be broken from the marketers standpoint. the problem is that if you have a container that big, fill it up! i dont care what size the package is if I get my money's worth. this fails to achieve that. If they choose to make a package that big, they need to fill it with pills, simple as that.

Conclusion: BROKEN

Posted by: narco at March 13, 2006 07:57 PM

It is seemingly annoying when the packaging is so much bigger than the content. But then again, how would people be able to read what was inside if the bottle didn't allow enough suface area for the label. I'm not old, or at least at 37 don't feel it yet, but I do have eyesight difficulties that mean I struggle enough anyway to read labels so this is a factor to consider too.

Posted by: Liz Gaskell at March 14, 2006 06:08 AM

Mike said:

"2) I forget who said this but: Alternatitive medicine is quackery since if it actully worked it would be used in conventional medicine."

Actually (not actully... :), we (the US) are one of the only countries that DONT use alternative medicine, specifically homeopathics. In fact, the Queen of England's doctor is a homeopath. Not that that in and of itself proves anything, but it might cause you to take a second look. In India, homeopathics are just as popular as conventional medicines, even though conventional is a cheaper way to go.

"Manni, it would help fix the amount of waste created (and energy used)."

You're talking about a bottle a couple inches tall. Reducing the size of the bottle would result in a minimal savings in plastic production. I don't think the landfills are being overrun with pill bottles, not when one 2-liter soda bottle takes up as much room as 10 of these pill bottles.

Now take a look at Claritin packaging, which is a large box that uses excessive cardboard and plastic to sell you 8 pills.

And if you make the bottle smaller, you make it more difficult for people with gripping problems (e.g. arthritis) to open.

1) I've seen this issue with many sorts of pills, including ones much less controversial than echinacea.

2) If the bottle was smaller, it would be difficult or impossible to put the necessary text on the label in a readable font -- it's small enough already.

3) On the other hand, if they filled the bottle further, the cost would be much higher, and, for some things, more pills would be wasted -- not everything has a long shelf-life or is needed in large quantities.

The package states, fairly clearly, that the bottle contains 30 capsules. 30 capsules do not take up much space, so anyone looking at the bottle and expecting it to be full has, in my opinion, unreasonable expectations.

On a similar note here is an interesting fact, When manufacturing water bottles they start with two basic forms and then inflate them to the size and shape needed. Therefore, 1.5l and 1l bottles use the same amount of plastic and 750ml, 500ml and 350ml all use the same amount of plastic.

I wonder if the same applies for medecin bottles as I hace noticed that smaller bottles tend to be thicker.

As for the size of this bottle, I agree that is seems silly to have such a large bottle for 30 small capsules.

Posted by: Sean P at March 14, 2006 03:36 PM

"Actually (not actully... :), we (the US) are one of the only countries that DONT use alternative medicine, specifically homeopathics." Funny there are homeopathic doctors in the states, as well atternative medicine includes echinacea, st johns wart, sawpaw meadow, etc. These products always follow a predictable pattern, praise for their healing power, a discovery of them not working, sometimes even the discovery of them causing more harm than anything. Homeopathic and alternative medicine is just quackery, thats my opinion and the opinion of doctors and nurses world wide.

Posted by: Mike at March 14, 2006 05:32 PM

I used to love going down to "Sawpaw Meadow" to pick "Saw Palmetto" flowers.

Posted by: Moonbeam Utopia at March 15, 2006 12:49 AM

Mike, would that be 9 out of 10 doctors world wide, paid for by drug co. A?

Natures medicines have worked for most of the worlds civilizations for tens of thousands of years.

As for the product pkg. If the manufacturer did this in an effort to reduce production costs, it is not broken. If however it was done to gain more shelf space/exposure, it is broken because, the bottle size looks pretty average (not real big or small) and therefore would not stand out on a shelf full of similar sized cardboard boxes. A lesson in less is more.

Posted by: longhair at March 15, 2006 01:44 AM

~ is right. Stores stage their products. Why do you think milk is always in the back of the store? I still think its funny that cigarettes are sold in the front but they make the sick walk all the way to the back of the store.

Posted by: Poindexter T Quakenfuss at March 16, 2006 08:18 AM

Mike, my mom's a nurse (and a damn good one!), and she would disagree with your statement wholeheartedly.

Posted by: ambrocked at March 16, 2006 07:33 PM

p.s. Mike, ever heard of Vioxx? That stuff happens with 'conventional' medication too (not to mention almost every kind of food we eat- eggs are good for us one day, bad the next...).

Posted by: ambrocked at March 16, 2006 07:42 PM

Which statement ambrocked?

Posted by: Sean P at March 17, 2006 10:01 AM

Which statement ambrocked?

Posted by: Sean P at March 17, 2006 10:01 AM

If the bottle were smaller, the font on the bottle might be so small that it would be difficult (or impossible) to read the instructions and disclaimers, leading to a different and perhaps even more broken experience.

Posted by: Lisa S at March 17, 2006 01:21 PM

Yeah, so much space taken up by the echinacea, not enough cotton there.

Ya but when something goes wrong with a prescription med, such as vioxx, it is pulled, you can still buy tonnes of products at the "health food" store that are garbage, not good for you, or deady in the wrong person. And to the poster whos mom is a nurse, she has every right to disagree with me, everyone does its my opinion, however my opinion is shared by a large amount of the medicalc ommunity.

Posted by: Mike at March 17, 2006 08:45 PM

isn't the real question whether or not the pills themselves are broken?

Posted by: Alex at March 18, 2006 01:02 PM

Sean P.: "Homeopathic and alternative medicine is just quackery..."

Posted by: ambrocked at March 22, 2006 08:38 PM

It says right on there that there were 30 capsules, unless they're horse pills you'd probably know they were cheating you.